Balloon catheters are useful tools of the clinical radiologist and surgeon and find application in diagnosing and treating innumerable ailments throughout the body. They have been used in virtually all passageways from blood vessels, urinary tracts, or the like, to nasal and throat openings. They function to block flow of blood, air, urine, etc., to scrape vessel walls for the removal of clots, to block the flow of escaping air, and for numerous other uses. Generally, these devices consist of plastic or rubber tubing to which a rubber sleeve is mechanically fastened to simulate a balloon. These fastenings usually consist of several wraps of fiber to anchor the edges of the balloon, followed by an overcoat of rubber or plastic. As the sizes become smaller and the tubing becomes softer, these balloons are more difficult to construct and suffer from a lack of strength and reliability. Consequently, they have not been available for use in diagnosis and treatment in many situations. Thus, there is a significant need for very small-diameter catheters which exhibit a high degree of flexibility and reliability and, because of their gossamer nature, are capable of navigating the tortuous paths of small (less than 1 mm) lumen vessels leading to tumors, arteriovenous malformations, aneurysms, angiomas, parathyroid adenomas, and the like.
Existing balloon catheters have various serious shortcomings, mainly because the balloon is connected to the cathetic tubing wall by seams or joints which present difficult fabrication problems, which are subject to leakage or rupture, and which interfere with the smooth movement of the catheter in its intended passage because the seams or joints are relatively bulky.
A preliminary search of the prior art reveals the following prior U.S. Pat. Nos. of interest:
Koehn,--3,050,066 PA1 Dereniuk,--3,528,869 PA1 Vasquez et al,--3,833,004 PA1 Dyke,--4,003,382 PA1 Kerber,--4,029,104